The podcast features Thomas Greminger, head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the foreign minister of Montenegro, Srdjan Darmanović.

MACEDONIA’S MOMENT

The decades-long Macedonia name dispute may be resolved Sunday. If a plan to change the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia into the Republic of North Macedonia is approved by voters, Greece’s left-wing government has promised to unblock the country’s path to membership of NATO and the European Union. Western leaders have intervened massively in the campaign, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a long list of other VIPs, including former U.S. presidents, urging voters to back the name change.

Western officials hope the referendum will bring Macedonia firmly into their orbit and push back Russian efforts to wield greater influence in the region. The EU hopes a “Yes” vote will help resolve other disputes in the region, such as that between Kosovo and Serbia. In what is becoming standard election and referendum fare, there are also claims of Russian disinformation.

BARNIER SAYS NO (FOR NOW)

Europhiles and Brexiteers had something in common Friday: disappointment that Michel Barnier will stick with his Brexit task, rather than join the race to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as European Commission president in 2019. Warning: Barnier has not ruled himself out of a top EU job, he’s merely ruled out the front-door option. Given the messy landscape of the 2019 European election (no European party is expected to win more than 30 percent of the vote), European leaders and MEPs may seek a consensus Commission president candidate after the election. Barnier, a former French foreign minister, may also be drafted in to replace Federica Mogherini as the EU’s chief diplomat. Here’s how Barnier could be the EU’s Trojan horse.

ONE-ON-ONE

Srdjan Darmanović, Montenegrin foreign minister

Montenegro sure makes a lot of news for a small country: Allegations of a Russian-backed coup plot, Donald Trump shoving aside its prime minister at a summit, and the U.S. president suggesting NATO could be drawn into World War III there.

The man trying to keep relations with Washington and Moscow on an even keel is Foreign Minister Srdjan Darmanović, a former think tanker and academic who was ambassador to the U.S. before taking up his current post. Despite the country’s run-ins with global powers, the neighborhood was on Darmanović’s mind when he spoke to POLITICO recently at the Bled Strategic Forum, an annual political gathering in Slovenia with a spectacular mountain backdrop.

Darmanović tried his best to sound polite about the prospect of Kosovo and Serbia changing borders to reach a final peace settlement, but made clear he has reservations. Darmanović said the idea could be a “double-edged solution” — while resolving relations between Serbia and Kosovo, it could spell trouble elsewhere in the region.

“We should never forget that in the Balkans, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, we produce more history and politics than we can swallow,” he said. “If this case will be taken as a precedent for other national or nationalistic ambitions, frustrations, territorial claims in the region, then it will be a problem.”

The worry for Montenegro and its neighbors is that demands for further border changes could destabilize a region that was engulfed in war only a couple of decades ago and also set back their hopes of EU membership.

As for Russia, Darmanović said relations are now in “more calm waters.” But he added a note of caution: “In our region, Russia is playing the role of a definite competitor of the EU in different ways and their strategic orientation [is] to take NATO as a competitor and maybe in some situations an enemy.”

Darmanović played down Trump’s World War III comments and said he thinks the U.S. would remain engaged in the Balkans. “I very much favor European soft power but sometimes the hard power of the United States is irreplaceable, as the crisis of the ’90s very clearly demonstrated,” he said.

BRITISH CEREAL KILLER ON THE LOOSE IN NEW ZEALAND

In a possible glimpse of Brexit future, a British shop in New Zealand was found in breach of trading rules and as a result, 108 boxes of Weetabix will be destroyed. New Zealand customs seized and impounded the shipment of Weetabix last year after complaints from local firm Sanitarium that shoppers could confuse the British cereal with its own product, Weet-Bix. Sanitarium took its case to the High Court but although a judge found there is no chance of customers being confused because Weetabix is only available at a speciality shops selling British products, the shipment will still be destroyed. The shop — A Little Bit of Britain — will in future have to cover the labels of any boxes of the breakfast cereal, a judge ruled. Lisa Wilson, the co-owner of A Little Bit of Britain, told the Guardian that Sanitarium is “bullying” her small, family-run business.

EU’S MAN IN LONDON … MARTIN SELMAYR?

Brussels will open its new embassy to London in March next year whether Britain crashes out of the bloc without a deal or not. The prospect of such a plum position has top Brussels brass jockeying for the role, according to diplomats. Two people in the frame are (and this will raise eyebrows in London) Martin Selmayr, the European Commission’s secretary-general, and Helga Schmid, the top official at the European External Action Service. “[Selmayr] wants that job … and very likely he will have to go,” said one diplomat, referring to the fact that if the next Commission president is a German, Selmayr would probably be moved from his current role. “He would be in a very visible and powerful position, as the official in charge of implementing Brexit,” said the diplomat. If Selmayr got the gig it would be the second London post he’s lined up for himself: Selmayr obtained a top and then The Commission denied Selmayr and Schmid are in the running.

FORGET THE POLITICS, LET’S STRUT OUR STUFF

Germany’s transport minister danced away the coalition strife and controversy over carmaker emissions scandals at the opening of a club in his constituency. “No politics today, no speeches,” said Andreas Scheuer from the DJ booth at the Lobo club in Waldkirchen. “I have brought some friends with me. And now … party,” the minister, who is responsible for transport and digital infrastructure in the federal Cabinet, told partygoers. Scheuer, from Bavaria’s Christian Social Union, celebrated his 44th birthday Wednesday and was at the opening night of the club near the city of Passau on the Austrian border. The following day, he was back in Berlin for a meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel and carmaker officials looking at measures to tackle air pollution problems in major German cities. Despite Berlin’s famous club scene and liberal nightlife, the German Cabinet does not have a designated minister for parties.

CATCHING OUR EYE …

Jeremy Corbyn threw in a bit of Spanish when he addressed the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, saying to his Mexican wife: “Tu eres mi fuerza y mi apoyo. Gracias Laurita” (“You are my strength and my support. Thanks Laurita.”) Let’s not rule out a Corbyn challenge to Manuel Valls, the former French prime minister who wants to be mayor of Barcelona | Leon Neal/Getty Images

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE …

An event organizer working for Friends of Europe on Friday invited members of the Brussels elite to an October dinner with “Jean-Paul Junker.” Apparently it was a typo rather than a European Commission president tribute act.

QUOTABLE

“I don’t believe it.” — Brexit is like waiting in a restaurant for a meal that never arrives — but still having to pay for it. That’s the (rather forced) analogy that People’s Vote campaigners use in a sketch featuring British actor Richard Wilson as his grumpy old man character Victor Meldrew (catchphrase “I don’t believe it!”). It won’t win any Oscars, but it might raise a smile.

“Dirty rats.” — How the Sun newspaper described EU leaders in the wake of the disastrous summit in Salzburg.